Ex-Marine can think on his feet.

 

 

By the time Pete was through the door, Mz Wanda was on him like a mosquito on a pool of blood.  

 Pete was no fool; painting has made Pete to be wary. He had almost  been stripped by a pole dancer. It did not go well.

The witch came running at him, syringe at the ready, screeching a witchy screech. Pete was ready; being an ex-Marine had honed his senses. 

The battle lasted mere seconds, ending with Mz Wanda lying on the floor. The sedative had taken over and she moaned. Pete pondered his next actions.

Marines think on the run, and Pete did exactly that, moral or not. 

He finished plunging the syringe into her neck, causing her black heart to stutter and stop. Pete wrapped the cold body in tarp, rolled it up. That was when he decided: throw her in the oven.

After the necessary clean-up that was done at top speed, Pete carried the supplies to the door, opening and stepping outside. He hollered back to the empty house, “I’ll come back to start over. Just give me a call.”  Then he stepped away, calling back, “Hope you’ll be feeling better. “

One would think this story was over, but nooo. 

In his truck,he phoned to his business partner.  “Hey, there, Henry.  Well, I took care of that witch. She sure has a nice oven. But, hey, this is the second witch in a month.  Something….” The phone went silent, and nothing would ever be heard of Pete.

 

Good Hunting

 From her small balcony, the witch watched the world go by.....

From her small balcony, the witch watched the world go by, remembering sadly her lovely forest home.  A forest fire had raged and taken her ancient house, with the only safe place to hide was behind an old iron stove. At least the movers moved it and set it up.

Sigh, so many memories…

Today Wanda was waiting for the painter, whom she had hired from a town 200 miles away, to come and cover the hideous pale blue kitchen walls with bright swirls and stripes. How can anyone stand such blandness, no excitement, no taste?

Wanda rocked and gazed through the screened in-balcony, seeing neighbors was along the street in front of what was now her home.  A jogger, who was drinking bottle water…well, he's a bit stringy! Tsk. Tsk. 

Then a muscular man walking his miniature poodle strolled by.  My, he’s burned off every bit of fat…  He waved at Wanda, as she called out, “Hello, dearie!”

Then the mailman who walked briskly, no time to linger…then the old woman with walker, skin sagging from her bones…

Finally, a rusty truck braked in front of her house, and “Painter Pete” stepped out.  “Howdy there, Mz Wanda!  I’m runnin’ a bit late, but…”  Wanda had ceased listening to his prattle.  She was instead noticing fat buttocks, portly love handles, a pudgy gut, and massive possibilities. 

“Come right in, Mr. Pete!  I have been waiting for you!”

Yes, Wanda had been waiting.  The oven was hot, the cleaver sharpened, and a hypodermic heavy duty sedative waiting.  Knocking someone out with an iron shovel was so old school.

Don't you just love Cloris Leachman?

This collection of  Photo Challenges is being provided by Defending the Pen. The word # is to be 100-200 words. My word count is 257, oh well. I didn't follow those directions.

It is a re-post of 2015 April, I think.  

Good Writing is Good Writing, no matter the age

Bruce Colville, 1993

My love for good children’s books goes way, way back to when I was studying to be a teacher.  The assignment was to create a display that would fascinate a classroom of children and inspire them to read the book shown.

I chose Winnie the Pooh, since I really did not know of many children’s books.  My display was pretty anemic, as was my re-telling of the story.

After that, the world of children’s books also became my world.  A well-written children’s book opens the door for the student to love reading--then to love writing-- and to keep on reading.  Without that initial inspiration, students may not reach for the Moby Dick on the high school library shelf.

One of my favorite read-aloud chapter books was Jennifer Murdley’s Toad.  It was nominated for a California Award for the Third Grade’s favorite book.  A short review goes as follows:

Source

An awkward and homely girl, Jennifer Murdley lives daily with ridicule from other students.  She wishes she could be like them.  On the way home from school, Jennifer notices an unknown street and a store, Elves Magic Shop.  She purchases a big toad from the very odd proprietor.  The secretive toad starts talking to Jennifer after she leaves the shop.  Through the story, Jennifer learns about his very strange life and the witch out to get him.... Lots of adventures follow.

This book was written by Bruce Coville and was published in 1992 by Harcourt.

It is worth a read, even if you are beyond third grade or graduate school or an old curmudgeon .  Good writing is good writing, no matter the audience.

Source

Just a note: I have ordered this book from the local Barnes and Noble and will share it with my granddaughters.  Why didn't I use Amazon?  I support local business and stores.  B & N is a long time friend with a then-novel relaxing approach for customers.  I like that.

W-X Posts: Wyvern and "X", part 1

The letter “W” whirls around my brain like a washer on heavy duty spin.  All my great ideas, the ones I took rigorous notes and scribbles about back in March, now smell as bad as a tri-color pasta salad left too long in the trunk.
 

No, I am just teasing.  I decided to go with a monster theme here, naming one with "W" and the other with "X".

So here it is: 

Wyvern: n.  (heraldry) a two-legged dragon with outspread wings and a barbed tail [M.E. wyver fr. O.F. wyvre, var. of vivre, serpent]  

It makes me wonder how this creature (mythical, I hope) was created.  It took some creative minds and some frightened peasants to come up with such an extreme creature.  Two legs!  Wings!  A dragon!  Barbed tail!  Nothing in God's animal kingdom existed like this Wyvern.  Extremely creative.  Extremely frightening!

From Wikipedia (God bless it!) 

This Wyvern relief carving is in Italy!  

A Wyvern, which is apparently well-known to all except me

 I bet you think I will drop the ball with "X".  Check it out tomorrow!